Max Verstappen penalty incident sparks call for HARSHER punishment

A former Formula 1 team owner has said that Max Verstappen should have received a more severe punishment at the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix.

The four-time and reigning world champion was hit with a five second time penalty in Jeddah after the stewards deemed he had gained an advantage by leaving the track at turn one in a lap one incident alongside Oscar Piastri.

The Dutchman kept the lead as a result of the above, and despite the incident being noted by the FIA, Verstappen did not give the position back, which is why he was handed a penalty.

Piastri was duly able to get past Verstappen when he took the five-second hit at his pit stop, and the Australian didn't look back, claiming his third victory of the season to climb to the top of the championship standings.

Now, Giancarlo Minardi, founder and director of the old Minardi team that raced in F1 between 1985-2005, has suggested that Verstappen's penalty was not harsh enough.

"Always present is Verstappen, the author of an extraordinary pole position after the difficult weekend in Bahrain. However, I do not agree with the penalty," Minardi wrote on his website.

"I believe that five [seconds] are too few considering the advantage obtained by his action and also because they came at the start of the race."

Should Verstappen have been given a stronger penalty?

An official FIA document released following the race confirmed that Verstappen's penalty had been downgraded due to mitigating factors, with the sport's governing body confirming why he was not given a 10-second penalty as Liam Lawson was for a similar incident.

Verstappen was able to recover from his penalty and finished a very handy second, ensuring he has been able to stay in touch with McLaren drivers Piastri and Lando Norris in the championship standings.

Minardi believes that a drive-through penalty for Verstappen would have been more fitting, as it would have dropped him behind a number of drivers, meaning he would have had a lot of ground to make up on the leaders.

"He had plenty of time to recover - crossing the finish line in second place, little more than two [seconds] from the Australian, a drive-through would have been more consistent," Minardi continued.

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